Handscomb, Paris star on evenly-matched day

Peter Handscomb missed out on a second century in four innings, but his 98 off 158 balls was vital to Victoria coming away rather well despite a wobble at the top and a mini-collapse in the middle. Western Australia's left-arm paceman Joel Paris took 4 for 68, on Sheffield Shield debut, to limit the visitors to 322 at the WACA.

Victoria were put in and they found things difficult immediately. Openers Rob Quiney (5) and Travis Dean (6) fell by the 13th over with the score on 36. That brought Marcus Stoinis and Handscomb together for a 78-run stand. When Michael Hogan broke through and Stoinis was sent back for 75, out walked the Victoria captain Aaron Finch at No. 5 and made a stroke-filled 68 with 10 fours. He was no competition for Handscomb though, who struck 17 fours in his innings at a strike rate of 62.02. That ended up being part of the problem though as five of the eleven players bagged single-figures.

Finch was knocked over by David Moody, and in the same over Glenn Maxwell fell for a duck. Victoria went from 3 for 249 to 7 for 274 and thereafter 322 all out, at a run-rate of 3.89.

Western Australia had 10 overs to survive and they did with Cameron Bancroft unbeaten on11 for 42 and Will Bosisto on 4 off 18